I'm not sure whether they mean "the solar surface" to be the corona or the photosphere,(I believe most astronomers consider the corona to be a sort of atmosphere.)but either way, that comet is going to get really really hot!

This event will become more and more prominent in the news as the the hour approaches.

Comet Lovejoy took a dive back in Dec. 2011 having spent close to an hour inside the corona. It's closest distance was 120,000 km (74,564 miles) above the stellar surface.

Will have to watch and see what happens with the ISON being predicted as the latest sundiver, but this NASA Page has links to videos of Lovejoy shooting in and out of the Corona of the sun during it's event.

ISON is still too far out (near Jupiter) for them to get an accurate fix on it's size.I've seen estimates anywhere from twice the size of Lovejoy, to between 1 and 10 kilometers.By mid Summer we'll surely know a lot more about it.

Comets are so cool, I've seen about five.

I'll never forget the night in March 1996, when I was letting my dogs out to do their numbers,when I looked up and saw Comet H'yakutake "What's that!" I exclaimed to myself,but in a moment realized it was a comet. I had not heard any news about it, so it was a big surprise.

Later, in the middle of that same night, I heard a puppy yipping out in the barn,went out to look, and there he was, this lil mostly black with a little bit of brown, boy puppy.Nearby, I saw his mama's eyes glowing in the beam of my flashlight,and so I went back inside, thinking she would lead him away, but she ran off and never came back.I have always wondered if she left him there on purpose.

Being the dog lover that I am, naturally I adopted him, and wondered what to call him.I considered "H'yakutake" but that sounded a bit weird for a dog, just imagine it,"here H'yakutake, c'mon H'yakutake, come here boy", so I settled on "Comet"Comet passed on last March 22/2012, almost exactly, if not exactly, 16 years later.

Being the dog lover that I am, naturally I adopted him, and wondered what to call him.I considered "H'yakutake" but that sounded a bit weird for a dog, just imagine it,"here H'yakutake, c'mon H'yakutake, come here boy", so I settled on "Comet"Comet passed on last March 22/2012, almost exactly, if not exactly, 16 years later.

"Comet" is an excellent name for a dog. Good choice.

Hale-Bopp was also spectacular the following year. It was those two that rekindled my interest in amateur astronomy. I look forward to seeing ISON.

Who is to say what will happen this time, comets certainly make watching the sky interesting.

Another comet from the sun grazer family, Comet Encke in 2007, had it's tail blown off by a solar eruption when it was inside the orbit of Mercury. This GIF movie below from NASA's STEREO-A probe shows that event, plus shows some rather cool whipping action in the comet tail.